San Mateo high school district drops AP lawsuit

SAN MATEO -- The San Mateo Union High School District and a group of Mills High School families have abandoned their legal claim against the College Board and Educational Testing Service over the companies' decision to invalidate the Advanced Placement exams of nearly 300 students at the Millbrae school.

The district announced late Monday it was withdrawing the lawsuit, three weeks after a federal judge rejected its bid for a temporary restraining order compelling the testing organizations to score more than 600 tests. ETS disqualified the exams in July after confirming that Mills officials failed to adhere to seating requirements for many of the students who took the tests in May.

The decision to invalidate the tests enraged students, since there was no evidence that any of them cheated or benefited from the seating problem. Though students taking AP exams are required to face the same direction, some Mills students were seated facing one another at square or circular tables.

Oakland-based U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong Brown ruled that school officials and parents were adequately warned about the consequences of violating the seating policy. She also found that the investigation by ETS into the "testing irregularity" was sufficient.

The district said in its announcement that individual parents and students may still pursue claims against the testing organizations.